Out of Control, OSLC, Midweek, March 19, 2025

The homily for the second week in Lent midweek service, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. The text went with the youth skits: Matthew 8:5-17.

One thing is for sure, the centurion’s request was unique.

The centurions were the Roman guard, the people who were in charge of maintaining the Roman occupation of the Jewish people. They were paid reasonably well, hence the centurion having servants, and they were used to having their orders followed.

What happens when the world spins out of control? What happens when you are a doctor, a nurse, or another medical professional, and a family member’s health is failing? Or you are a financial professional, and you can’t keep a friend from financial ruin?

As the centurion said to Jesus, “For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me, and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” He is used to being the “take control” guy. He is the one who makes things happen. When he says “Jump,” his men snap to. But now, his servant is ill. Very ill. All of his power, all of his authority won’t cure the man. He is out of answers.

What happens when you lose control?

It was 1990, and we were expecting a child. I was a reporter for a small town newspaper, so everyone knew the Kenny baby was soon to arrive. “What do you want, Gail, a boy or a girl?” “I don’t care, as long as the baby is healthy,” I would answer.

On a fateful day in August, my water broke early, and the birth was induced. But our son’s lungs weren’t ready. He had to be air-evac’d to Phoenix, to a Level 1 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, or NICU.

What happens when you lose control?

Our Lutheran church prayed for our baby. And so did the Methodists, the Catholics, the non-denominational churches. I lost count of the people who told us they were praying for our boy, who was given less than a 20-percent chance of making it through the night. Like the centurion, when the world spins out of control, you are reminded where your faith is centered. The centurion turned to Jesus. He told him I’m used to commanding people, but this is beyond my control. But not beyond yours. Say the word, and he will be healed.

Healing stories in the gospel are challenging. Sometimes, like our son, people survive dire situations. However, all of us know people, who, despite their faith and the faith of those around them, did not survive their battle with cancer, or another illness, or an accident.

But what I do know, is that God is with us in those painful parts. God is with us when we suffer. Somehow, this Roman centurion knew where to turn when he had lost control. Jesus never said, “who are you, a centurion, to ask that of me?” Jesus held up the centurion as an example of faith. “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.”

Jesus didn’t check his background when he healed the centurion’s servant. He didn’t check his membership card or attendance record. He didn’t ask him to change who he was before he could perform his sign. He found in that Roman man a sense of humility, of trusting faith. And he healed the man’s servant. The love of God in Christ Jesus has no limits.

What happens when you lose control?

Life happens to all of us. People lose jobs, marriages break down, a natural disaster claims your home. Your doctor says the cancer came back. Having a completely funded 401K or knowing the right people won’t stop the bad things from happening, won’t take away the pain when they do.

But I do think that, as people of God, in good times and bad times, we learn to keep our trust in God. And then, no matter what life throws at us, we can hold on to the One who holds us, now and always.

Amen.